Based on the nature of how the hardcore gaming community is melting down over this, it really does seem to be justified as the bill seems to be aiming at titles with an M rating. I know that the ESRB’s system is policed by the game industry itself to prevent the federal government from doing that job for them, but the system has been broken for years because developers and publishers abuse it by finding ways to add content for their game to justify an M rating and then market this fact in a way so the hardcore gamers can use this label as some sort of status symbol for simply owning it (their twisted logic would probably be something along the lines of “THIS GAME IS ART FOR IT AS AN M RATING, AND M STANDS FOR MATURE. THEREFORE ME OWNING THIS GAME MEANS I AM A MATURE INDIVIDUAL”). For example, Call of Duty up until the Black Ops release was always rated as a Teen game. And despite the ratings escalation, the game’s presentation of its multiplayer content, which is reason most of the players buy this game for, never justifies the ESRB giving it an M rating. That M rating definitely isn’t coming from the profanity of other players’ mouths on voice chat if they decide to play this game online because there’s a disclaimer right before the game starts that the ESRB never takes players socializing with this game online into consideration when giving it the final rating. Even Epic’s use of blood and gore are stylistic references to some of the first games of the FPS genre like Rise of the Triad because the death animations feel more comical than realistic (ie- getting a successful headshot with the sniper rifle causes the victim’s head to instantly disappear without a trace while blood spurts out from the body’s neck as it keels over) and they’ve even implemented optional features that tone down the level of blood, gore, and verbal profanity from the game starting with Gears of War 2.
If this tax proposal does go through, the hardcore gaming industry might have to actually create content for their games that don’t revolve around this kind of content that’s irrelevant to their games. The Mortal Kombat guys would have to make more Good Licensed Video Games like Injustice instead of using their Mortal Kombat IP because DC comics isn’t going to let them get away with making an M-rated fighting game using their characters that’s powered by the solid game mechanics of a modern Mortal Kombat engine. Microsoft would be forced to create a new flagship FPS series that has the same quality as Halo and Gears of War but without the content that would give it an M-Rating or else they’d be facing hefty costs for every sequel to their established franchises.
If I were to point out one thing that Nintendo really contributed to the gaming industry that goes mostly unnoticed, it would be that unspoken rule that the content for the games released on their systems should appeal to as broad an audience as possible, and part of adhering to that rule was to avoid content that the ESRB would justify giving the game an M-rating. Blizzard is another one that seems to follow this rule for their RTS games. In retrospect, I’m still amazed at how much content they have in their RTS catalog that would’ve classified them as an M-rated games (warcraft had pagan symbols, demons, and bodies decaying on the battlefield while starcraft has the kind of blood and gore found in an FPS title for the death animations for Terran Infantry and everything Zerg yet both of these games somehow get away with a Teen rating).
I’m playing Ultima VII at the moment and there are dead babies rotting on pedestals all carved up. Of course, that sounds worse than it is when you experience it. It is like saying in Final Fantasy 6 that the world implodes and most of the people of the world die. You don’t really sense it in the game because of the sprites.
PC games, being heavily influenced by novels, always had a wide scale in its content. Shadowgate for the NES had tons of gore. Yet, despite Nintendo really policing their games hard, they left Shadowgate alone. Why? The game uses imagination more than effects.
In Civilization, you are nuking cities and starving people. You commit genocide like Hitler. It sounds worse than what the game actually is.
I would like the issue of ‘tax on violent video games’ to be asked to David Jaffe, the guy behind God of Wars series (which is very violent). What does he think of this issue?
Those of us who like Nintendo understand Nintendo is the Disney in gaming. Without Nintendo, video games would quickly become a political bloodbath. Violent video game tax would not touch Nintendo games. It is not a coincidence this is occurring.
I just like how hardcore think they are law experts and say, “They can’t tax violent video games!” Oh, they can. Who is going to stop Congress? Taxation of a product is not prohibition of a product (which is why if smoking was truly bad, it would be banned and not taxed). Supreme Court won’t stop Congress from taxing something. A tax on violent video games could easily become reality. It’d be funny to watch those ‘Next Gen’ $70 games become $100.
And you know the only way for Game Industry to avoid such a tax? Used game sales. Hahahahahahhahahaha.